Computer sloooowed after possible bad download!! Advice Please!

[murray_girl]

About three weeks ago, my roommate popped a DVD into our computer. An automatic prompt asked him to download a certain DVD viewer to our computer, even though we already have one (!?!?!) He did, the computer went "screwy," so he uninstalled the program. He's even less technologically minded than I am, so honestly, that's the best description I have of what happened.

Anyway, our computer immediately slowed down. I had to turn our firewall off to even access the internet. Windows XP is running extremely slow as well, taking a full minute to open any program. Our internet access has slowed to a crawl (we have broadband), even without a firewall. At first, it was something that I said I'd just deal with later, until I realized that I can't even listen to music while reading my email - all the songs skip because the computer's working too hard??? I've run our anti-virus numerous times, run Ad-aware, etc etc, and nothing seems to help.

I am so frustrated! So, a site suggested that I make a HijackThis log, but what do I do with it now? Can anyone give some advice?

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Hello and welcome to Techspot.

Your system is infected by a few nasties, including broken internet access.

Go and read both these threads by RBS. Follow all the instructions exactly.

How to remove Begin2search / coolwebsearch and other nasties. and How to remove Trojans and its ilk!

Post a fresh HJT log, only after doing the above.

Regards Howard :wave: :wave:

 

[murray_girl]

Still have problems ....

Thanks very much for your help. I'm pretty sure that I followed your directions correctly but the computer is still slower than molasses. Some notes on what I found:

I COULD NOT run either Spysweeper by Webroot OR Spyware Eliminator from Aluria. I COULD run Ewido.

I COULD NOT use LSPFix for my broken internet access as the directions intended, as my missing file was not xfire_lsp_8742.dll I googled quite a bit and am pretty sure than I WAS able to fix the problem with LSPFix, although mine had a different file name. Atleast, I think I fixed it - it's no longer listed on my HijackThis report.

Other than that, just about every program you recommended I run (AboutBuster, Adaware, Spybot, etc etc) found something. Ugh. I fixed everything they found.

I also read the "make windows xp safer" thread within the "security and the web" forum and made some changes (renamed my administrator account, turned the guest account off, etc) so that's good.

Now, how to get my computer back up to speed? What the heck is the deal?

The following information may be helpful:
-I have Windows XP Home edition
-I have a broadband connection
-I have EZ antivirus, firewall and pest patrol
-I only use Firefox and have done so for the past 6 months
-I defragged my computer a few days ago and do so about once a month
-My C drive is half-full, my D drive is 90% full

I guess I'm not sure what other information you may need to help me.

Anyways, thanks a bundle for your advice and please please please give me any more. I'm attaching my new HijackThis log. Thank you!
-

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Let HJT fix the following.

O20 - Winlogon Notify: igfxcui - igfxsrvc.dll (file missing)

O21 - SSODL: DCOM Server - {2C1CD3D7-86AC-4068-93BC-A02304BB8C34} - blank (file missing)

Other than that, your HJT log looks clean.

Run a disk clean up, and a disk defrag.

Regards Howard

 

[akaivan]

You may just need to clean it, but howard knows better than me. that program could have brought in a lot of junk, go here to download ccleaner. ITS great. just Curius, howard what do you use to clean your computer?


Download CcLeaner

 

[howard_hopkinso]

You may just need to clean it, but howard knows better than me. that program could have brought in a lot of junk, go here to download ccleaner. ITS great. just Curius, howard what do you use to clean your computer?


Download CcLeaner

Ccleaner is what I use. Great programme.

Regards Howard

 

[akaivan]

Ccleaner is what I use. Great programme.

Regards Howard

Its a great program, quik and easy. I liked it as soon as i seen it. :angel:

 

[murray_girl]

Done and done ...

So, I just let HJT take care of those two problems, downloaded CCleaner and let it do it's thing, and defragged (current space: C Drive 79% free, D Drive 15% free). STILL SLOWER THAN MOLASSES. Tested my computer by logging on to the internet while listening to Windows Media Player - all the songs still skip. Also took nearly a minute to open the program. Ugh Ugh Ugh.

Anyways, thanks for all your help. Is there anything that could be making my computer this slow without it being a spyware/malware/adware issue?

And one more thing - every time I turn on my computer, my firewall (EZ Firewall) sends up a notice "New Network Detected". It never did this before the so-called "bad download" but happens every time now. Anyway to fix this?

Thanks again. At the very least, I now have some great new spyware detection programs on my PC.

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Is there anything that could be making my computer this slow without it being a spyware/malware/adware issue?

I don`t know is the answer.

Just as a precaution, go HERE and have you computer scanned.

Also, take a look in your task manager. click on the processes tab and look to see which processes are taking the most cpu percentages.

Regards Howard

 

[murray_girl]

Couldn't run HouseCall ...

Thanks for the suggestion but I was unable to run HouseCall - the computer kept freezing (completely! Aah!) and had to be restarted. Scary.

I also was reading some of the other posts and downloaded AVG as a virus scan and ran that - it found four trojans and I had them removed. Why is EZ Antivirus not finding those?!?

Also, I watched my processes. At a time when my CPU was running at 100%, something called "vsmon.exe" was using 97% of that. What the heck is that? I did a google search and wasn't able to determine if it's a legitimate program or not, and if I can remove it. I tried stopping the process, but my "access was denied." Can you help with that?

 

[murray_girl]

vsmon.exe is freaking me out

Okay, did more googling, and apparently vsmon.exe is a legit process that's part of ZoneAlarm virus and firewall programs made by Zone Labs. The problem? I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING MADE BY ZONE LABS ON MY COMPUTER!!! My main firewall and antivirus is EZ Suite, made by CA (Computer Associates). This has me VERY concerned. I'm going to start a completely new post in "Security and the Web" trying to get some answers. Look for me on a new thread. Thanks.